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| Africa North |
| Some Algeria Attackers Are Placed at Benghazi |
| 2013-01-23 |
| Several Egyptian members of the squad of militants that lay bloody siege to an Algerian gas complex last week also took part in the deadly attack on the United States Mission in Libya in September, a senior Algerian official said Tuesday The Egyptians involved in both attacks were killed by Algerian forces during the four-day ordeal that ended in the deaths of at least 38 hostages and 29 kidnappers, the official said. But three of the militants were captured alive, and one of them described the Egyptians’ role in both assaults under interrogation by the Algerian security services, the official said. If confirmed, the link between two of the most brazen assaults in recent memory would reinforce the transborder character of the jihadist groups now striking across the Sahara. American officials have long warned that the region’s volatile mix of porous borders, turbulent states, weapons and ranks of fighters with similar ideologies creates a dangerous landscape in which extremists are trying to collaborate across vast distances. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is scheduled to testify before Congress on Wednesday about the Libyan attack that killed the American ambassador and three staff members, raised the specter of regional cooperation among extremists soon after the mission in Benghazi was overrun. In particular, she said the Islamist militant takeover of northern Mali had created a “safe haven” for terrorists to “extend their reach” and work with other extremists in North Africa, “as we tragically saw in Benghazi,” though she offered no clear evidence of such ties. Now the Algerians say the plot to seize the gas complex in the desert was hatched in northern Mali as well. Indeed, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the veteran militant who has claimed overall responsibility for the siege, is believed to be based there. But the Algerian official did not say why the captured kidnapper’s assertion — that some fighters had taken part in both the Benghazi and Algerian attacks — should be considered trustworthy. Nor did he say whether it was obtained under duress. Instead, he focused on the chaos unleashed by the recent uprisings throughout the region, leaving large ungoverned areas where extremists can flourish. “This is the result of the Arab Spring,” said the official said, who spoke on condition of anonymity because investigations into the hostage crisis were still under way. “I hope the Americans are conscious of this.” |
| Posted by:Beavis |
| #7 More viable would be subpoenas to then-assigned and current AFRICOM staff. And yes - political theater. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-01-23 18:13 |
| #6 Issue a subpoena to the former Combatant Commander, General Ham and let him, under oath, provide a detailed timeline; the 5-W's, (who, what, when, where, and why). Special emphasis on the conduct or rather non-conduct of the standing Non-Combatant Evacuation (NEO) plan. What we are seeing on teevee today is pure, political theater. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-01-23 15:18 |
| #5 Pappy, I've been suggesting much the same - there HAD to have been a real reason for the flagrantly obvious initial lies, and for Romney to shut up with his campaign criticism the way he did. It doesn't have to be a reason we approve of, but it would be stupid to just attribute it to stupidity. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2013-01-23 14:42 |
| #4 When Hillary said she didn't know anything about the weapons being moved through the consulate, and our personnel doing this, she was LYING Given the US ambassador's relations with then-Libyan rebel groups, it's likely that that weapons or materiel were being supplied at some point to Libyans, either by the US or through proxies. That may be the reason there is stonewalling now. To repeat myself from earlier posts: I'm not convinced that there was gun-running at the time the consulate was attacked. It could have also been weapons-flow monitoring, or (more likely) attempts to control or stop the flow of weapons (or types of weapons) to groups like Al Nusura. It's also likely possible that foreign governments are involved; the disclosure of which would likely cause crisis or emarassment to the US administration and/or to the US Government. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-01-23 14:27 |
| #3 Thank goodness for Rand Paul today, pointing out that Hillary is incompetent. Yet he didn't go far enough. When Hillary said she didn't know anything about the weapons being moved through the consulate, and our personnel doing this, she was LYING. She should have been called on it. I wish Senator Paul had done so. Our current administration has no honor and no integrity. Someone needs to proclaim this to their faces. It's time to speak truth to power. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2013-01-23 14:01 |
| #2 This is why 'the video' matters, Hillary. These guys weren't enraged by some cheezy YouTube video. These guys are hard boyz, ideological as all hell, and -- by virtue of natural selection -- good at what they do. Be it Mali, Algeria, Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, or Mauritania, they'll go where the opportunities are to spread their ideology and kill infidels, in either order. That's why the video matters -- we have to get past the idea that we're the ones who are wrong. We are not wrong. They are just evil. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2013-01-23 13:55 |
| #1 There's a remote possibly that it might explain the translation from the Benghazi attack video of "Mursi sent us". |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-01-23 12:06 |